The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-06-09
THE OLD SOUTH.
"A BEAUTIFUL Tribute TO HER
LITERATURE.

III Ihetr Dny--Flvc Boys of tho Old South
In College Where Two Go Now--Too
Much of the Dollar-Making EIement on
Top Now.
Nrom the Louisville Courlcr-JournaID
Within tho past few years it has be-
come the fashion among. literary critics
to deprcciate the literature produced in
tho South before the war, and to point
to antc-bcllum days as period almost
barren of literary achievement. Indeed,
1t has been with this fashion as with all
fashions-it has been exaggerated and
overdone In our zeal to place the
laurel on the brow of tho hero of to-day,
we have forgotten his predecessors, and
VIC have whispered into his car, "Thou
art the first of thy race"
Now far be it from my intention to say
aught against the fair name Of the new
generation Of writer's that has sprung up
III the South since tho war; No South
crner anywhere is proudcr than L am
OF such names as Thompson and
Craddock and Harris. But now, if with
the ancient Cloitus l dare say to the
hero, ''Thy father, Philip, of Maccdon,
was also great man" 1 hopo may not
meet the fate Of that faithful, but too
bold, censor.
In Offering criticism Of anything
written IN the South before tho war, Que
IS confronted with an amount of preju-
dice which Is indeed remarkable. The
average SOuthcrncr has formed his
opinion of antc-bcllum literature not
from actual study Of tho literature itself,
but rather from tho biased criticisms Of
Northern writer's He reads Griswold,
and is told that Simms was voluminous
writer, but entirely without literary
merit, and that Poo was drunken and
cOnccitcd fool. From StGdmau he learns
that Wait Whitman IL the nc plus ultra
OF American poets, and that there was no
intellectual achievement i'll tho South
before tho war, for "human slavery was
tho basis of It's physical life"
Examine the library of the tOlcrably
well rCG0 SOuthcrucr, and What will YOU
find? There will be Bryant and Long
fellow, and Emerson and Hawthorne,
and all the rest Of the Northern writer's.
But would be surprised if You found
anything by Poe, and / iCm sure you
would find nothing by Washington
Allston or f.. G. pinkney, or Hrnry
Tnnrod or Albert Pike. The Thousand
! and ono volumes OF Coopcr's novels
t would be conspicuous, but you woult
| look ii vain for "ISWallow Barn" ant
, "lLorsc Shoe Robinson" and "NIartil
Fabcr" and "Castlo Dismal"
, Now, surely such Indifference is moi
: Justified by lack of intrinsic merit III
our literature, and the Southern people
are doing themselves an injustice when
they allow themselves to be persuaded
that there Is anything III their literary
history to be ashamed OF.
In 1860 that scholarly and accom-
plishcd writer, John II. Thompson--for
q long time editor of the Southern
Literary Mcssongcr-cntercd into an
agreement with John Estcn Cook to
publish al edition Of the 'Poets and
Poetry Of the South" But the war; that
Brighter CT hopes, came ON.
GA wind came out Of the clouds by night,
Chilling and killing"
and SO the leaves, scarcely begun to be
gathered, were scattered again. But they
were the fresh leaves Of noble and I'M
FASHIONED peoples spring time, and let
us for moment enjoy their fragrance.
| y VI
stOn's "Sylphs Of the Seasons" and
'"rhc Paint King?" They arc wild and
beautiful. You would divine they were
written by an artist, oven if you did not
know that AllstOn was one of the great
est OF American painters. He is to us
what Dante Gabriel Rossctti is to Eng
land-ho IS the paintcr-poct. Indeed,
the sOll OF Carolina grow many sweet
and fragrant leaves. There were the
| lyrics OF tho two Timrods, the book
binder and his son. When Washington
Irving read William Timrod's ode '"Po
| Timo," he exclaimed, '"rom Moore hus
written no finer lyric" "Autumnal Day
in Carolina" and "Sons Of the Union"
written during the nullilication contro-
vcrsy, and Henry TimrOd'8 Vision Of
Pocsy' and "Rhapsody of Southern
Winter Night" and "Summer Bower" all
have about them the scent Of the foliage
of Southern forest. Henry Timrod is
much admired in the North, and Whit
tier and SotOddard have gone 50 fur as to
say that he is the greatest poet the South
has yet j'ru;!UccA.
| bat thC only true portraits ct South
| Cln lie before lhr >.Hr are to be found
III thc novels oil kcnncdy and Simms
| They d"lHCutC with tho accuracy OF an
toms Of pvrlod ,.,., mnH been the Source
Of mdch cpnWoycIay. / thiuk if the
rcvjicrs Of the mItc-Dclum South would
read honest Old konu"dy'a "5wallow
Bnru,' they would dc6ist from their
Scn3ClCGS vitupCratlOnS. Said the North
American Review: "Iho story Of Abe
and the negro mother, forvpathos and
power, isnot surpassed by anything that
has yet appeared III the literature Of our
country"
But have time only to mention some
of our othor writer's. There was Richard
Henry Wilde, whose researches on
Torquato Tasso produced such O sensa-
ton IN Europe; and then the brothers
Cooke; and John James Audubon, the
traveller and naturalist; and Charlie
Gayarri, the historian; and Judge Lone.
street, whose Georgia Scenes" was tic
pioneer in this dialect literature which is
80 much "tho style just now, you know. u
And now comes Poe, the greatest OF
thcm all. But the critics have tried to